


home is where is heart is (i'm homesick for you)

by spiritsontheroof



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Getting Together, Jack Dalton Loves Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016), M/M, Sappy, Tiberius Kovacs, coming home, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-16
Updated: 2020-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23688043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spiritsontheroof/pseuds/spiritsontheroof
Summary: Jack does not like to count days when he’s on a mission. He does not like to think about how long he’s been in whatever Godforsaken hellhole the U.S. government has dropped him in now, does not like to wonder how long it’ll be till he gets home. It just leads to him missing things he can’t have right then, and Jack is not a patient man.
Relationships: Jack Dalton/Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 79





	home is where is heart is (i'm homesick for you)

**Author's Note:**

> hi guys! please enjoy and come see me over on tumblr, i'll be taking writing requests!  
> all mistakes are my own  
> https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/spiritsontheroof

Jack _does not_ like to count days when he’s on a mission. He _does not_ like to think about how long he’s been in whatever Godforsaken hellhole the U.S. government has dropped him in now, _does not_ like to wonder how long it’ll be till he gets home. It just leads to him missing things he can’t have right then, and Jack is not a patient man.

When Jack was in Afghanistan, he missed Texas, big blue skies and open pastures and his mama. Then he met a mouthy EOD tech with a silly hamburger name who turned his entire world upside down, who made him want to do another damn tour, who he was so gone on it wasn’t even funny. Now, long after days that were filled with sand and blistering heat, he misses Los Angeles. He misses the traffic and the humid heat, and he misses Mac. He misses Mac so much it actually makes him ache, makes something in his chest seize up so hard he can’t breathe sometimes. To make matters worse, Jack can’t even call, check in and see how his favorite genius is doing, because it could compromise his location and the safety of this never-ending hellscape of a mission Jack and his guys have been sent on. He wants so badly to call Mac – hell, he’d settle for Matty –just to make sure Mac was doing alright. Not that he doesn’t trust Desi to watch Mac’s six, she’s a total badass and she’d never let anything happen to Mac, but it doesn’t feel right to be so far from him, unable to make sure he didn’t do something stupid and get himself killed. He wants to go home, and he pushes the guys on his team twice as hard as he would if he didn’t have something worth rushing home for. They’re good guys, they work hard, they want to catch Kovacs as badly as Jack does, and they don’t buck up at him for being an ass because they get it, they have families, wives, and people they want to get home to. So, between them, there’s an unspoken rule that you bust your ass as hard as you can so that the guy next to you can get home to whoever is getting him through this nightmare op.

Jack goes on like this for he doesn’t know how long, (he doesn’t count days, remember?) before they finally complete the mission. It feels like it has been _forever_ , feels like he has aged twenty years and like he will _die_ if he has to wait one more second to get back to LA. But they finally get Kovacs and Jack actually cries because he is so happy to finally go home, to finally get back to the things that actually matter to him. He loves his country and he loves his job but he loves Los Angeles more. Loves Mac more. And he plans to tell Mac that, thank you very much. He’s chickened out of it too many times, has let it go unsaid for too long, and he’s doin’ something about it as soon as he’s back in LA. He’d wanted to tell Mac before he left, tell him he loves him, cares about him, that nothing in the world is more important than him. Hell, he thought about just kissing him and leaving it at that, but Jack didn’t figure it fair to dump something like that on Mac then take off for God knows how long. So, he left it unsaid, let it hang between them that last minute in the war room, and had cried on the way to transport. 

Once Kovacs is secure and they get back to their base, Jack rushes through the post-mission debriefs and meetings and evaluations as fast as the army will let him. He gets the first flight he can back to LA, barely even tells his teammates goodbye in his haste to get home. The flight is a long one and Jack usually sleeps through flights, never was an anxious flier like Mac, but he doesn’t get a wink of sleep because of how excited he is to be back. It feels so good, knowing he can finally get his life back to whatever fucked up sense of normal the Phoenix foundation had given him, can finally breathe again despite all the LA smog.

Jack lands in Los Angeles and gets an Uber to his old apartment even though he really wants to go straight to Mac’s. He cleans up, gets a shower, and gets out of his uniform and into some real clothes. He shaves the horrendous beard he had grown during that jungle stint and he starts feeling like himself again. By the time he’s done, Jack is practically itching with want to see Mac, so he leaves unpacking and settling in for later and drives the GTO straight to Mac’s.

Jack lied, he hates LA traffic, and he will _never_ say otherwise ever again. It takes an hour to get to Mac’s and it is not making the nervous energy coursing through his veins let up any, only makes it worse the longer he sits in his car. He thinks on the way over about what he’ll say to him, if he even really should tell him about how he feels. It’s not like he thinks Mac will reject it, he knows how Mac feels about him, he sees it all over his face. It just scares the hell out of Jack, the way he feels about Mac, and he is a little bit of a chickenshit. Somewhere during this internal argument between himself and himself, he finally arrives at Mac’s house and by now he is practically shaking with excitement, having to force his hands steady as he knocks on the door and waits for the only thing he has been missing this whole time.

Mac is six hours into cleaning up the house when he hears a knock. He figures its Riley, she’s the only person who still knocks no matter how many times he tells her she doesn’t have to. The house finally looks livable again, even though it had taken his last three days off, all his patience, and a lot of beer to get done. He feels pleased with himself and finally feels like he’s getting back to normal. Well, normal as he can be without Jack.

“One second!” Mac calls toward the front of the house, pulling a clean shirt over his head.

The knock comes again and Mac huffs. “I’m coming, Riley, I keep telling you that you don’t have - “he says as he goes towards the door, “knock.” He finishes in surprise. On the other side of his door is really the last person he was braced to see. Standing there, all leather jacket and stupid Metallica shirt and big toothy grin, is Jack. Mac stands stock still, heart pounding in his chest, feeling like he must be going crazy or dreaming or something before he launches himself into Jack’s arms. “You’re home.” Mac says, laughing against Jack’s shoulder, nearly giddy with the fact that Jack had finally come back to him.

Jack stumbles backward with Mac’s weight crashing against his chest, laughing as he wraps his arms around the skinny blonde genius. “I’m home,” he echoes, and he isn’t sure if he was assuring Mac or assuring himself, but that was beside the whole point. He made it out, after what felt like forever, he is back where he belongs with his boy in his arms.

After a minute, Jack pulls back, smiling as he looks Mac over. He looks good, healthy, like he’s sleeping and eating well and like he’s managed not to blow himself up during Jack’s absence. Mac’s hair is shorter but still forever falling into his eyes, which are shining bright blue as he smiles back at Jack. “You look good. Missed you, man.” Jack says, patting him on the arm, smiling so wide his jaw hurt.

Mac chuckled and pushed his hair out of his face. “You don’t look too bad yourself,” he muses, looking Jack up and down before he can stop himself. Jesus, Mac, really? He’s been home all of five minutes and you lose all ability to be discreet? Get a grip, his inner monologue gripes and Mac ignores it, pulling Jack into the house and closing the door. “I missed you. I am so glad you’re back. Things just haven’t been the same without you here.” Mac tells him, walking toward the kitchen. “You want a beer? Hungry? I still can’t cook but I could order us something. There’s this great – Sorry.” Mac smiles and shakes his head when he catches Jack laughing silently at his rambling.

Jack shakes his own head. “Don’t apologize. Missed your excited ramblin.’ Got quiet in the jungle without it.” Jack assures him and takes the beer Mac offers him from the fridge. Jack takes a breath, steadies himself, and then he prepares for the hardest part of this reunion. “Hey, I need to talk to you. Tell you some things.” He says, voice barely holding steady under the weight of his nerves.

Mac sits his beer on the counter and cocks his head. “What’s wrong? Is everything alright?” Mac asks, mind immediately going to every worst-case scenario his brain can conjure. Being a genius and having anxiety is the worst combo, Mac thinks has his stomach knots up.

“Nothing’s wrong, I promise. Everything is totally fine. I’ve just been thinkin’ there’s some things you and I should talk about.” Jack assures him, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder gently. Jack looks out the window for a minute, shoves his hands in the pockets of his jacket, and blows out a deep breath. “I really missed you while I was out there, man. You know, I thought... I didn’t really think I would have so much dead time, just waiting around, and I spent almost every second I had free thinking about you. And I just wanted to call, just wanted to hear your voice, and I couldn’t. And it was the hardest part. I was goin’ crazy and the only thing that kept me from losin’ my cool out there was thinkin’ of you.” Jack pauses, gauging Mac’s reaction, trying to guess what he’s thinking. Mac’s looking at him, face open, every emotion clear all over his perfect features and Jack thinks this is going well, I can relax, you knew how he felt all along.

“And I’m sorry, for leaving it how I did in the war room that day. I should have... hell, I at least should have hugged you. You deserved more than a handshake. But what I’m tryin’ to tell you is you mean more to me than I got words for, man. I love you and I’ve been waitin’ since that second tour with you in the sandbox to tell you.” Jack finishes, feeling like he had just lifted the weight of the world off his own shoulders. He leans against the counter and waits for Mac to say something, _say anything, come on, Mac._

Mac thinks Jack _cannot_ have said what he thinks Jack just said. _‘I love you,’_ just like that. Easy, like it made all the sense in the world, like he’s been saying it since day one when in reality, he doesn’t think Jack has ever said that to him before right now and oh my God, Mac doesn’t think he’s ever been so happy in his life.

Jack watches Mac process his words, watches the gears turn in Mac’s head and Jack loses a little confidence with each passing second. Finally, Mac laughs, bright and happy and it is the best thing Jack has heard in so long. He missed that bright sunshine smile, those baby blues that shine when the sun catches them just right and Jesus, Jack is so fucking _gone_ on this dork who used to be nothing more than the slowest EOD tech in the history of the world.

“I love you, Jack.” Mac says and takes a step toward him so that they’re almost touching, stares at him and sighs like a lovesick kid because that is exactly what he feels like. “I can’t believe this. It all feels like a dream, you know? I feel like I’m in the climax scene of a cheesy romcom.” He chuckles and dusts off a spot on Jack’s leather jacket, letting his hand linger.

Jack smiles and pulls Mac against him by his waist. “Yeah, I know what you mean. It's kinda surreal, havin’ all you ever wanted after so long.” Jack agrees, pressing his thumbs into the warm skin of Mac’s hip.

“You gonna kiss me or what?” Mac says, a true smartass even in a romantic moment, acting like his head isn’t spinning at the thought of finally kissing Jack.

Jack rolls his eyes in fond annoyance at Mac’s constant mouthiness and leans in, presses his lips against Mac’s and _wow_. It’s the kind of kiss you read about in books, hear about in songs, and Jack feels like he’s on cloud nine.

And if they stand there in the kitchen, Mac perched on the counter and Jack standing between unfairly long legs for so long Mac loses his track of time, well, that is no one’s business but theirs.


End file.
